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Enos Mills by Peter Wild

Arabian Nights Tales, a Selection Based on the Translation of Richard Burton by Richard Burton

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Friends: hthbooks, seltzergurl

Interesting library: bruff, carminowe, hthbooks, PaperFolder, Schmerguls, seltzergurl

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BrokenSpines's reviews

Reviews of BrokenSpines's books, not including BrokenSpines's

Member: BrokenSpines

CollectionsYour library (383), To read (14), Read but unowned (20), All collections (383)

Reviews33 reviews

TagsBiography (88), American West (69), History (69), Fiction (63), Outdoors (39), Film (30), Read in 2009 (22), Thomas Hardy (22), Some Favorite Reads Not Owned (20), Childhood books saved (18) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsAtheists review books, Librarians who LibraryThing, Outdoor Readers, Things found in books

Favorite authorsLaurence Bergreen, Thomas Hardy, Conrad Richter, Thomas Wolfe (Shared favorites)

About meMy Favorite Books by Age (Those I can remember)
- Also on the list: every biography I ever read

Age 04: Perry
Age 09: Flood Friday
Age 14: How to Stay Alive in the Woods
Age 15: To Kill a Mockingbird
Age 15: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Age 16: Hawaii
Age 16: The Fires of Spring
Age 16: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Age 17: The Return of the Native
Age 18: Gone With the Wind
Age 19: Look Homeward, Angel
Age 20: The Hesiod
Age 21: Of Time and the River
Age 22: Two Years Before the Mast
Age 24: Ragtime
Age 25: Complete Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor
Age 27: Darwin and the Beagle (Moorehead)
Age 27: An American Tragedy
Age 28: Sister Carrie
Age 29: Deliverance
Age 30: The Raj Quartet
Age 30: Lolita
Age 31: Deliverance
Age 32: Fanny [Hackabout Jones]
Age 35: The Woodlanders
Age 37: White Nile
Age 38: Les Miserables
Age 40: The Golden Gate
Age 43: The Fur Country
Age 45: Undaunted Courage
Age 48: Southern Daughter
Age 50: The Awakening Land Trilogy
Age 51: In the Heart of the Sea: Tragedy of the Whale Ship Essex
Age 52: Evangeline
Age 55: Over the Edge of the World
Age 56: Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
Age 57: The Official Boy Scout Handbook, 1931
Age 58: The Woman in White

In 2008 I retired from a long career as a librarian in a corporarion and other jobs. At present I'm enjoying working only part-time as a reference librarian at a state college in northern New Jersey.

About my libraryMy book collection charts my life; whatever topic or place I was interested in at a particular period -- there is a book to reflect it. But over the years I've had to part with many books. My biggest book-shedding regret is giving away! my autographed copy of Erica Jong's, "Fanny Hackabout Jones" - the funniest book I've ever read. My local library cooperative, BCCLS, can get practically any book I want to read, so I no longer buy books regularly. My home collection consists mainly of:

1) Books acquired during my 20s to 40s (1970s - 1990s)
2) Books about places and regions I have visited.
3) Used books purchased for pennies at charity sales.

At a used book sale in March 2009 I was startled to spot about 20 books from the 1960s that I own -- the very same editions -- all lined up TOGETHER on a table. It was as if I had died and was looking at my own books that had been donated/discarded en masse by my heirs. This was the final day of the sale so it was deflating to realize that "my books" (carefully saved over a lifetime) were of no interest to buyers. It gave me a new perspective on saving books!

Real nameBob

LocationGlen Rock, New Jersey

Emailmilepost94verizon.net

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/BrokenSpines (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/BrokenSpines (library)

Member sinceNov 24, 2008

Most recent activity

BrokenSpines reviewed, added:
The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (John MacRae Books) by Charles Pellegrino (read review)

BrokenSpines reviewed, added:
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris (read review)

BrokenSpines added:
My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

BrokenSpines added:
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp

BrokenSpines rated, reviewed, added:
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman (Women in the West) by Margot Mifflin

(read review)

BrokenSpines reviewed, added:
Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival by Clara Kramer (read review)

I think I tried that one and couldn't get into it.

posted by hthbooks at 12:17 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2009

Bob -
Happy belated birthday! You're younger than springtime!
Love, Helene

posted by hthbooks at 5:53 pm (EST) on May 2, 2009

My favorite thing though, is to look at the book covers, en masse. You appear to have a huge Truffaut collection.

posted by hthbooks at 2:09 pm (EST) on Apr 12, 2009

How fun - thanks for telling me!

posted by hthbooks at 12:13 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

I've been scanning my covers for some of the titles without them.

posted by hthbooks at 4:52 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2009

I feel like I've just scratched the surface of my books - most of these I own, but am also including books I've read but don't own. I have no idea who this picture is of, I found it on Google.

posted by hthbooks at 4:21 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2009

It looks like it is a default picture, as I have since seen it on one other member's site. It's of Edith Wharton. I am going to try to change it.

posted by hthbooks at 11:35 am (EST) on Mar 31, 2009

Maybe I did pick it. I had joined a while ago, and forgot that I had, now I'm forgetting things like pictures I've picked. I haven't seen that pic on anyone else's page. So many book sites, such little time. I'm rambling.

posted by hthbooks at 10:38 am (EST) on Mar 20, 2009

Do you mean the painting? I have no idea. I don't even think I put it there. Or I don't remember if I did. Maybe it's LibraryThing's generic pic?

posted by hthbooks at 11:11 am (EST) on Mar 19, 2009

Hey Brokenspines, I just logged on here to add a book and found your cheery note. Have a good day for true and see you round the internet.

Air kisses. Seltzergurl...

posted by seltzergurl at 2:24 am (EST) on Feb 17, 2009

Bob - Are you only listing books you own, or those you've read? For me, the two diverge widely.
-- Helene

posted by hthbooks at 6:47 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2009

My theory is why spend hours reading a book if six months from now you can't remember what you thought of it. I can readily call a book I have read to mind through my comments made right after I read it. Hey, it takes only a few minutes and the benefit lasts the rest of one's life.

posted by Schmerguls at 12:57 pm (EST) on Dec 24, 2008

I am pleased you find my books interesting. Contrary to some listings, I have listed only books I have read in full. I am inserting comments made by me when I finished the book. These comments are non-profound, but are what I actually said to myself immedately after finishing the book. I find it interesting that though we share only 38 books, on a weighted basis my 'library' is the 13th most simialr to yours.

posted by Schmerguls at 8:38 pm (EST) on Dec 22, 2008